For All Alabamaʼs Children The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K–12 Education The Provostʼs Report 2009
For All Alabamaʼs Children For all Alabama’s children
The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K–12 Education The Provostʼs Report 2009
Table of Contents Serving Alabamaʼs children through collaboration and scholarship 3 Meeting challenges where they begin 5 Equipping leaders for community progress 11 Partnering with teachers across the state 17 Enriching student experience 23 Preparing new educators 31 Directory of services 32
“Our faculty, staff and students are engaged daily in the application of scholarship and community collaboration to strengthen K-12 education in Alabama – in service to our children and to the future of our state.” Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Judy Bonner
Serving Alabamaʼs children through collaboration and scholarship When challenges are deeply entrenched, unflagging cooperation between everyone affected offers the best hope for overcoming them. In our state of Alabama, a quarter of the adult population is functionally illiterate. Ten percent of our young people drop out of school before high school graduation, grievously damaging their chances for successful lives for themselves and their families. These gloomy statistics—and the millions of lives they represent—remain daunting from decade to decade and grow worse in times of economic upheaval. In these straits, The University of Alabama’s embrace of its service mission becomes ever more crucial. Active collaboration with communities, not mere theoretical prescription, is the University’s responsibility. But to offer solutions that apply beyond an immediate problem in a single community, such engagement must also yield scholarship that can aid further cooperation between other communities facing similar problems and scholars whose disciplines help to understand and solve them. This is the scholarship of engagement, through which the University partners with communities and with K-12 education. Not just a new name for the ongoing work previously called service or outreach, “the scholarship of engagement” honors the wisdom of community partnership in analyzing and finding solutions for the pressing problems which threaten the future of all Alabama’s children. The scholarship of engagement puts investment in higher education to work for children in K-12—and in improving the quality of life in communities across the state. Our faculty’s partnerships addressing five aspects of K-12 education are spotlighted in this report. Meeting challenges where they begin, equipping leaders for community progress, partnering with veteran teachers, enriching student experience, and preparing new educators, we and our community partners are. turning traditional boundaries into gateways through which shared knowledge and creative exploration can flow for the benefit of our most precious resource—our children.
Dr. Judy Bonner Executive Vice President and Provost
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Sally Edwards, director of Child Development Resources, says the goal of all their activities benefiting Alabama children is “to reach parents and childcare providers with the information and resources they need, so that children receive the best possible start in life to insure that they begin school ready to learn.” BabyTALK classes, including the one in progress in this photograph, help parents confidently provide their children a nurturing start in life in an environment of “language, literature, and love.”
Meeting challenges where they begin Formal classroom education may begin in kindergarten, but the level of children’s preparation for learning on the day school begins hugely determines their chance for success. Skills taught in the home, the health and financial security of each family, and public policies that affect health and safety all contribute to a quality of civic life in which people can work together, combining their strengths for individual and community success, in school and beyond. Ensuring that children receive the high standard of care that they need and deserve requires information and resources— and either of these can be in short supply for families across the socioeconomic spectrum. UA’s Child Development Resources (CDR) reaches out to both families and professional care providers: to parents seeking information about child care and child development, to employers interested in creating child care programs for their employees, and to child care providers who want to provide the best for the families they serve. CDR also manages a childcare subsidy program for low-income families. Two of the major programs available free of charge to parents are BabyTALK and PAL (Parenting Assistance Line) BabyTALK is a collaborative community effort encouraging parents in the nurture of their very young children by providing basic child development information and suggestions for developmentally appropriate activities. PAL is a toll-free parenting assistance phone line based at Child Development Resources and supported by The University of Alabama and the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama. Parenting resource specialists are available 60 hours a week to provide information, support, and tools to make parenting more manageable. In the first 15 months of operation, PAL received over 5000 calls from 65 of Alabama’s 67 counties and 19 states and received almost 14,000 visits to the PAL web site. For childcare providers, CDR provides on-site and on-campus training for professional development and maintains The Learning Center and the Rolling Resources Van to provide materials and learning resources both on-campus and on-site in a 12-county service area.
First housed in a minimally converted dorm and funded in 1974 by the U.S. Office of Health, Education, and Welfare as a demonstration program serving children with disabilities aged birth through 5, the RISE program is now an international model for best practices in empowering children to learn and function to their highest capability. Each year, RISE draws over 12,000 visitors seeking to learn and replicate its effective and compassionate techniques. Serving 80 children directly, RISE serves myriad others by advancing standards of care through published research and presentations at national and international conferences and serving as a practicum and internship site for students from the University and other colleges and universities. Accredited by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs, the work of RISE also has been popularly shared through network television and in People Magazine. Housed since 1994 in a purpose-built facility made possible by a donor inspired by Coach Gene Stallings and his late son John Mark, RISE is a model for the development of similar programs across the country, including a dedicated school in Selma, Alabama.
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The Center for Community-Based Partnerships, under the direction of Dr. Samory Pruitt (right), UA vice president for community affairs, and the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, under the direction of Stephen F. Black, help UA faculty, staff, and students collaborate with surrounding communities to meet mutually identified needs.
Creatively and collaboratively bringing together University and community resources yields effective and far-reaching action on behalf of Alabama’s children. The Center for Community-Based Partnerships (CCBP) and the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility (CESR) help channel faculty/staff and student ideas and dedication into remarkable service. Projects of the Center for Community-Based Partnerships (several of which are featured in this report) coordinate all aspects of the University’s mission—teaching, research, and service—and focus on creating sustainable solutions to identified challenges through community engagement scholarship. By publishing the Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, whose inaugural issue appeared in Fall 2008, the CCBP also contributes to the national discussion and application of this emerging model of higher education’s integration with and usefulness to society. The Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, funded by a gift from Mignon C. Smith, grew from attorney Stephen F. Black’s work in the University’s Honors College and his non-profit FocusFirst, an initiative providing free vision screenings to low-income 3- and 4-year-olds, helping ensure that they can start school with any vision problems that could hurt their ability to learn already addressed. FocusFirst has mobilized students from 22 different campuses to screen over 45,000 children and to direct those needing followup to free care by a partner non-profit. FocusFirst is one of several CESR initiatives bringing college students into helpful and instructive contact with people and ideas whose paths they might not otherwise cross. Through SaveFirst, trained students assist low-income families in preparing their tax returns. In 2008, they served over 1400 families and learned, in the words of one student, “that poverty has no color.” Moral Forum is an eight-week class in which each student must argue both sides of a controversial question, learning the techniques and the necessity of civil discourse in a free society. Graduates go on to teach those skills in the Tuscaloosa middle school debate program Speak Up, and in SpeakFirst, a Birmingham high school debate program that has helped the first class of eight SpeakFirst debaters earn more than $1,000,000 in college scholarships.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation named Stephen Black one of ten 2008 Community Health Leaders for FocusFirst (see story this page), selected nationally from over 800 nominees. The $125,000 award, says Black, “will let us screen more children.” The Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative brings UA resources to seven local schools to work with pre-K students: workstudy students serving as classroom assistants, faculty and students providing health screenings and speech/hearing assessments, Spanish language students serving as tutors and interpreters for Hispanic children, recent graduates recruited as “Power Aides” for pre-K classrooms, music and art students providing special lessons, communications students creating marketing materials, and education majors helping with screening and assessment. The Spanish Outreach Program of UAʼs Department of Modern Languages and Classics places UA student translators as interns in agencies and offices whose clients include Spanish speakers with limited English. Students facilitate communication through written translations, personal dialogue, interpretation, and individual tutoring.
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UA researchers have partnered with the state to investigate ways to increase children始s safety on school buses.
Policies and practices that influence public health and safety stretch across a broad spectrum of endeavor, and University of Alabama faculty help inform their creation with pertinent and objective research. In some communities, University faculty, staff, and students directly improve public health through the provision of needed services. While statistics show that a child traveling in a schoolbus is eight times less likely to be injured in transit than a child being driven by a parent in a family automobile, the scope of potential loss in any schoolbus accident requires that best practices be aggressively pursued. Following the tragic death of four children in a schoolbus accident in Huntsville, the Governor’s Study Group on School Bus Seat Belts tasked UA researchers with investigating the effectiveness of seat belt use. Now one year into a three-year pilot study, UA researchers are collecting data from a dozen seat-beltequipped buses in ten school systems, urban and rural, across the state, to inform future policy and equipment investment for the state. “The Costs of Child Abuse vs. Child Abuse Prevention: Alabama’s Experience” delved into the economic impact that child abuse has on the state. The findings of this collaborative effort between the Children’s Trust Fund of Alabama and reseachers in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences and Center for Business and Economic Research were released in June 2007, providing evidence of the value of prevention. Law faculty have researched and written on educational funding and constitutional reform. For over a decade, The Bibb Child Caring Project (BCCP) has provided complete annual health screenings for over 3,000 Bibb County children through school-based health fairs conducted by the Capstone College of Nursing, each year discovering serious health problems that otherwise likely would have gone undiagnosed until the condition worsened. The BCCP model is replicated in 11 other Alabama counties. Nursing faculty and students provide screenings through additional initiatives, and are helping care for the geographically displaced children of military families through the Alabama division of Operation Military Kids.
Growing from a University of Alabama initiative and networked through the University, twelve family resource centers across the state now work to strengthen families by bringing services directly to people who need them. Every center is attuned to community needs, providing services ranging from parenting education to adult and family literacy, career development job training, and further education. Building the coping skills of children with mental/ emotional difficulties and their families and training professionals to work with these children, is the mission of several programs of UAʼs Psychological Clinic and of the Brewer-Porch Childrenʼs Center. Through school-based programs (including the Autism Program and the Children/Parents Coping Power Program) and day and residential programs, UA offers innovative and resultsoriented treatment programs. The Alabama Autism Conference each February brings professionals treating autism the latest in autism research. Convened on the UA campus, the conference is also open to parents and others with an interest in autism.
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“We appreciate the support of our colleagues at the University. Dr. Charles Nash and Dr. Samory Pruittʼs work with the Black Belt Consortium has opened opportunities to us, while Nisa Mirandaʼs guidance in grant-writing helped us to make a compelling case for funding our computer lab, which otherwise wouldnʼt be available to our students.” Dr. Daniel Boyd, Superintendent, Lowndes County Schools, and graduate of the first University of Alabama Superintendentsʼ Academy class, in the Capstone Computer Lab at Calhoun High School in Letohatchee, Alabama. [Dr. Nash is vice chancellor for academic affairs for the UA System; Ms. Miranda is director of the University Center for Economic Development.]
Equipping leaders for community progress Progress in communities is best achieved with leadership from all walks of life working together to reach shared, mutually beneficial goals. UA is working to equip and empower leaders in crucial walks of life. Looking at the age demographic of the superintendents of Alabama’s 132 school systems points to the need in the next decade for a new generation of professionals to take on these crucial leadership roles. In partnership with the State Department of Education, The University of Alabama Superintendents’ Academy provides current and potential superintendents with education and insight into best practices in six critical areas--curriculum and instructional leadership; communications and community relations; technology, telecommunications, and information systems; school law and ethical standards; school finance and fiscal accountability; and diversity, community, and leadership fit. The Superintendents’ Academy is a tuition-free, year-long professional development program open to any resident Alabama educator eligible to be an elected or appointed superintendent. Participants must commit to fully participating in six intense two- to three-day sessions, and each class since the Academy’s founding in 2002 has been filled with dedicated individuals. Academy director Dr. Richard Rice says the recruitment for the program is straightforward: “We make sure that everyone who is eligible for the program is aware of it, and we make sure that each one knows that he or she is welcome here.” This approach has been effective—each class has been a diverse mix of gender and ethnicity, representing the best of Alabama’s new generation of leaders. UA also cooperates with the State Department of Education to help school superintendents, sitting and potential, expand their professional knowledge to earn needed certifications. A College of Education faculty member has conducted training sessions in school law around the state. At the end of each session, participants are given the opportunity to sit for the State Department of Education Examination in School Law, passage of which is required for all superintendents.
Protecting students and school personnel from health hazards in buildings, per Environmental Protection Agency regulations, makes asbestos management a critical issue for administrators. UAʼs Safe State training course qualifies participants to identify and oversee abatements. UA also provides on-site testing and control recommendations for other environmental hazards in K-12 schools. Two notable examples are remedying sickening air quality in FEMA trailers used as temporary classrooms by tornadodestroyed Enterprise High School, and dealing with lead exposure at Spanish Fort Elementary School. The Alabama Association of School Business Officials, managed by UAʼs College of Continuing Studies, offers two certificate programs in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Education to prepare professional chief school financial officers and and payroll/ personnel administrators. A local school bookkeepers certificate program will offer its first classes in 2009 as another step in AASBOʼs efforts to help school business personnel be prepared and accountable.
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Members of the Parent Leadership Academy administrative/instructional team include (from left) Dr. Polly Moore (Tuscaloosa County Schools), Dr. Joyce Stallworth (UA College of Education), and Valerie Thorington (UA Child Development Resources), photographed at an academy session. “We all are working together in this effort,” says Dr. Stallworth. “The insight, energy, and enthusiasm of the parents are a motivation and inspiration to everyone involved.”
Higher student achievement results when schools invite parental involvement and parents engage in their children’s education and in their schools. But schools and parents are often mutually frustrated in their attempts to work together. Despite the long tradition of school support by parent-teacher groups (PTAs and PTOs), participation by public school parents in these groups is low, evidenced by low turnout for conferences and school programs. However, a group of concerned educators, community leaders, and parents in Tuscaloosa decided to combine resources and design an initiative to facilitate greater parental involvement in local schools. This initiative evolved into the Parent Leadership Academy (PLA). Under the aegis of the CCBP (see page 7), leaders from the Tuscaloosa City School System and the Tuscaloosa County School System partnered with faculty from the UA College of Education and College of Human Environmental Sciences to structure the academy. In the initial year, 10 schools were selected which represented every quadrant of the systems’ coverage areas. Each schools’ principal identified two parents willing to participate in six three-hour educational sessions during the course of the year. The sessions—Parental Self-Assessment, Helping Your Child Achieve Academic Success, Supporting Your Child’s School, Discipline and the Child, Understanding Your School and the Board of Education, Health and Welfare—addressed parenting skills, available resources, and the power of parental involvement in the school, home, and community. In each of the sessions, experts in the particular subject areas engaged parents in interactive discussions around effective practice, current research, and success stories from other communities. Learning new strategies and new ways of thinking to help their students and their schools, which they immediately began to apply, parents began changing the landscape of involvement in their schools. Their work drew attention and visitors from other communities and within their own schools. At their closing certificate ceremony, parent graduates Mr. Dwight Moore and Dr. Spike Howard challenged themselves and their cohorts to “make a difference in the lives of all our children.” The second class of the academy, now underway, has enrolled twice as many parents as the first.
From the endangered health of low-birth-weight babies to the disease risks posed by childhood—and adult— obesity, nutrition plays a crucial role in learning readiness and public health, and UA faculty members are leaders in nutrition research and its application. One faculty member has served as nutrition consultant to the Parent Leadership Academy, providing information and follow-up mentoring on obesity and nutrition in the schools. She and her students also work with high school consumer economics instructors in creating, testing, and disseminating nutrition lessons. She also helps lead the work of the Alabama Obesity Task Force. Improving infantsʼ birth weight to fight high rates of infant mortality among impoverished people in rural Alabama has been the subject of another UA professorʼs research for the past 25 years. Her work received NIH funding for clinical trials of zinc supplementation during pregnancy. The trials demonstrated that an inexpensive supplement can significantly improve infant birth weight.
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Knowing and valuing one始s home community is one of the first steps in community leadership. The Black Belt 100 Lenses Project helps high school students find new ways to connect with their hometowns. Codirector Elliot Knight teaches basic photography skills and loans students cameras so that they can document the things that are important to them. This exhibit at Crossroads Community Center contains photographs from Greene County students.
Developing leadership skills, financial understanding, and community awareness in students adds a crucial dimension to building strong communities, as involved young people grow into engaged and effective adults. The University of Alabama works with K-12 students through a variety of programs building knowledge and mastery of issues beyond the classroom. UA student Elliot Knight, founder and co-director of the Black Belt 100 Lenses Project, worked with Sumter and Greene County middle and high school students to explore and share their community through photography. Providing cameras and asking students to complete with photographs the statement, “The Black Belt is . . .”, the 100 Lenses team taught basic photography skills, led the students in two discussion sessions in which everyone’s photographs were shown, and mounted the traveling exhibition shown left. The project team included Knight and fellow student Bethany Collins, Chris Spencer of UA’s Center for CommunityBased Partnerships, and Felecia Jones and Whitney Green from partner organization the Black Belt Community Foundation. The Black Belt 100 Lenses Project is ongoing, and currently working with students in Hale and Macon County to discover and document their communities’ challenges and triumphs. The Capstone Black Belt Entrepreneurship Camp gathers students from nine West Alabama counties for a week-long immersion in learning about entrepreneurship, its potential as a career, and its role in the economic development of their communities. Participants are students who might not otherwise consider pursuing a college degree or a career in business. In this program of the College of Commerce and Business Administration and the CCBP, campers live in UA residence halls, sit in on related college classes, hear first-hand from successful local entrepreneurs, participate in workshops and seminars including developing a business idea, the need for a business plan, “marketing 101”, ethics and entrepreneurship, and sharing one’s culture. The success of the inaugural camp has led organizers to increase capacity by 50 percent, to 30 students. A second statewide summer initiative of C&BA invites academically exceptional rising high-school seniors who are interested in careers in business to UA for Capstone Business Leadership Academy. The 10-day program broadens student awareness of possibilities within the different business disciplines.
Now in its 10th year, the Michael Figures Leadership Project helps middle school students develop their leadership skills based on the high-integrity values of the late Alabama state senator. Faculty and staff from UA and Stillman College work with students on all aspects of personal development, citizenship, and leadership. Based on research showing that financial education has the greatest impact when given in the middle school years, UAʼs College of Human Environmental Sciences hosts Camp Cash for 11-15 year olds, teaching financial goal setting and decision making, budgeting and cash flow management, time value of money calculations, banking system and investment basics, and responsible use of credit. CHES student group the Capstone Financial Planning Association also provides financial literacy classes to local middle school students.
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Hands-on learning is a hallmark of AMSTI lessons. Here, kindergarteners in Patricia Ford始s class at Rock Quarry Elementary School work with their teacher (foreground) and AMSTI math specialist Lynn Evers, using manipulatives to learn a new concept.
Partnering with teachers statewide As early as 1844, the University was formally preparing students to be educators. Today’s UA College of Education not only graduates prepared teachers, but continues to serve professionals in the field through myriad outreach programs, many of which are partnerships with the Alabama State Department of Education. A collaboration of UA, Tuscaloosa City Schools, and Tuscaloosa County Schools, the Alabama Consortium for Educational Renewal (ACER) has helped both the achievement of K-12 students and the pre-service education of new teachers who will take posts throughout the state and region. A coordinating council and three task forces (Inclusion, Literacy, and Motivation) address issues facing educators at all levels through workshops supporting theri professional development. The University of Alabama serves as a regional center for several State Department of Education initiatives, providing resources to many of the poorest counties in the state. As a Regional In-service Center, UA works with the University of West Alabama to provide professional development to K-12 educators in 116 schools divided among 12 school systems in the nine-county service area. The In-Service Center administers several major projects providing teaching resources beyond the means of individual schools or systems, including the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI—see sidebar at right and photo at left), Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM), Technology in Motion (TIM), the Alabama Reading Initiative, and the Alabama Reading First Initiative. ASIM serves high schools with supplemental instruction in biology, chemistry, and physics. A master-level teacher in each discipline, based in the respective departments of the College of Arts and Sciences, is equipped with a van of disciplinespecific high-tech equipment and travels to the area schools to provide training and serve as a mentor/coach to teacher participants. TIM helps teachers use technology in their classrooms, while the reading initiatives work to improve reading instruction and student literacy in K-12.
The Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) provides three basic services to improve math and science teaching and learning: professional development, equipment and materials, and on-site support. Teachers in AMSTI schools commit to participating in two-week summer institutes for two consecutive summers, receiving gradeand subject-specific professional development in the math and science content required by the Alabama Courses of Study. In the classroom, teachers receive kits with the equipment, supplies, and resources they need to engage their students in hands-on, inquiry-based learning. Once used, the kits are returned to the AMSTI site to be refurbished and delivered to another teacher for further use. The UA/UWA AMSTI site is the fastest-growing in the state. Over 700 teachers participated in the first summer program, growing to over 1,000 the following year. In the three years of its existence, 63 percent of area schools have committed to participate, compared to an average of 43 percent in other areas.
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“We want to prepare all students to be creative, thoughtful, and contributing members of society.� Dr. Miguel Mantero of the UA College of Education provided professional development to local middle schools in working with English Language Learners in content area classrooms, observing and evaluating teachers with their students, then providing written feedback and guidance on instructional and classroom management issues.
The College of Education’s five departments are all involved in school outreach. Their widely divergent disciplines—Curriculum and Instruction (C&I); Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies (ELPTS); Educational Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Counseling (ESPRMC); Kinesiology; and Music Education—allow for fruitful interaction with different aspects of K-12 education. C&I faculty work with primary and secondary school colleagues both in direct classroom connections (including honing instructional practices, presenting inquiry activities for parents and students, and organizing student programs and competitions) and in umbrella endeavors such as assisting in school accreditation reviews and development of state courses of study. Professors in ELPTS have conducted workshops on school law preparing superintendents for mandatory exams and instituted a conference for administrative research. Collaborations with schools and a family resource center to study relationships between family functioning, health, and fitness; creating a program to help students set and attain goals; and advising the State Board of Education on student assessment and teaching standards were part of the service provided by ESPRMC faculty. Some College of Education outreach brings services to students that schools could not otherwise offer. Kinesiology students, supervised by faculty, annually contribute over 4,000 personnel hours in specialized fitness instruction to area elementary and middle school students, including adapted service for developmentally disabled students. Faculty also provide workshops for teachers and no-fee consulting on ergonomics to local industry. Music Education faculty and students teach locally through the Tuscaloosa Pre-K Initiative, Strings in the Schools, and through individual outreach to additional schools and special-needs children. Statewide, the department provides professional development for teachers and visiting choral clinicians and adjudicated performances for students. Summer institutes and workshops in various content areas, taught by faculty of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, are a cornerstone of professional development for Alabama’s teachers.
Receiving Advanced Placement instruction in high schools allows students to receive college credit for work done in high school, lowering their overall tuition costs. AP instruction must meet College Board standards to qualify, and for over 20 years, UA has partnered with the College Board to provide weeklong summer workshops on Advanced Placement Programming and Summer Institutes preparing teachers and administrations to offer AP instruction. In 2007, in partnership with the Alabama State Department of Education, UA began a mentoring project for new AP curriculum teachers, linking them with College Board consultants and experienced AP instructors through workshops and ongoing use of distance technologies.
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“As we say in Project Community, the nature of life is nature. Everything we do to help students understand and appreciate their environment prepares them to be more engaged citizens,� says Discovering Alabama creator and producer Dr. Doug Phillips.
Since its first airing in 1985, Discovering Alabama has brought the natural wonders of the state—and the challenges our environment faces—into the living rooms and classrooms of Alabama. While remarkable for its breadth as a University of Alabama outreach—its million-plus annual viewers on Alabama Public Television are outstripped only by the audience for televised Crimson Tide football— Discovering Alabama’s bedrock value lies equally in its depth as a teaching resource for K-12. The video programs and allied resources are used in classrooms in every school system in the state. While correlated with the Alabama course of study in science and social studies, the videos and teachers’ guides are used across the curriculum as well, including art, language arts, and history. Interactivity and local relevance of learning are chief among the guiding values applied by the Discovering Alabama team and by series creator and host Dr. Doug Phillips. The teacher’s guides accompanying the shows outline before-, during-, and after-viewing activities, suggest “community connections” to tie the lesson to the local area, and list additional references and resources as well as offering philosophical reflections. Embracing technology to offer further resources, Discovering Alabama now hosts the online “Ask the Expert” database, enabling students to submit questions and photos of flora and fauna for identification and description by appropriate scientists, the results of which are maintained in a searchable database. Additionally, two books Phillips co-authored for the University of Alabama Press (Discovering Alabama Wetlands and Discovering Alabama Forests) are widely included in school libraries and accessed as resources by students and teachers. Building on the success of the series, Discovering Alabama and the University of Alabama Museum of Natural History are now working in partnership with other state agencies to present Project Community and Discovering our Heritage. These programs support state standards for education in natural science, social studies, and other subjects while connecting students and teachers with the outdoors through conservation education and engaging students with issues relevant to their communities.
Over 5,000 Alabama students and teachers each year benefit directly from the resources of UAʼs Cartographic Research Laboratory. The CRL has collected and posted over 36,000 maps and almost 11,000 aerial photographs to the Alabama Maps website (alabamamaps.ua.edu), which offers an index of contemporary maps as well as an archive of historical maps gathered from resources around the state, including the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Geological Survey of Alabama, and the Birmingham Public Library. By digitizing these maps and photos and making them freely available on the internet, the CRL has created a rich resource for education and business statewide. UA Geological Sciences professors included K-12 outreach as an integral part of their major research project on subsurface processes. Funded by the National Science Foundation, and in partnership with the Kansas Geological Survey and Michigan State, the research team will use 3-D technology to provide a visual means of teaching groundwater flow and transport processes. The results will be available on a free website, organized into virtual tours and learning modules.
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The University of Alabama Arboretumʼs Environmental Education program hosts K–8 field trips. Teachers structure their studentsʼ trips to align with their studies by choosing among a series of 15 activities whose lesson plans are posted on the Arboretumʼs web site. Activities, led here by Edie Heine of the Arboretum staff, engage students in learning more about what they see and hear around them.
Enriching student experience Public education is an interdependent web—from pre-K to doctoral studies, no part of the network can be truly healthy unless every part is strong. Each stage of education serves as the foundation of the next, so universities have the responsibility of using their larger-scale equipment and research resources to help enrich the academic experience of K-12 students and the continuing support of K-12 teachers. The University of Alabama embraces this responsibility both through bringing resources to students and their teachers and by bringing students and teachers to campus, often using competitive funding awarded from federal and private sources. Science education is an area of ongoing need in Alabama as in other states, and faculty and students from several UA departments devote hundreds of hours annually to presenting demonstrations and talks in classrooms throughout Central Alabama and the state. Geological sciences faculty share a K–12 series of topical geology lectures and lessons on the importance of water, the formation of rocks and minerals, and geological hazards, including “Drinking Water Below Our Feet,” “Groundwater: The Hidden Resource We All Depend On,” and “The Traveling Mineral Show.” Reinforcing the practice of scientific thought— thinking deeply and seeking information about a topic—as well as enriching the study of genetics, UA biological sciences faculty and students work with middle school students in discussion/ teaching experiences on “the impact of the Human Genome Project on science and society.” Outreach from other areas of biological sciences includes tours of UA’s fish museum, a traveling exhibition of Alabama fish, and an amphibian and reptile exhibit presented to K-8 students as part of a program educating students about conservation, biodiversity, and the state of the environment. “Last Child in the Woods” uses hands-on experiments and projects in an after-school program to increase third-graders’ appreciation of the outdoors and understanding and love of science, while a weekly biology afterschool program for third- through fifth-graders at the Tuscaloosa family resource center spotlights the science at work in everyday activities.
A National Science Foundation-funded research program in UAʼs Center for Materials for Information Technology (MINT) allows middle and high school science teachers to collaborate with UA faculty in an 8-week summer program. The Research Experience for Teachers initiative gives current teachers the opportunity to renew their engagement with their content area, and thereby refreshing their classroom offerings. MINT has also hosted high school interns in summer progroams. Each year over 1,000 elementary and middle school scudents come to UAʼs Gallalee Hall observatory to star gaze under the tutelage of UA physics and astronomy faculty. These night sessions have been provided for decades upon request, at no cost to the visiting classes.
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AMSTI/Science in Motion teachers and equipment provide additional resources for high school science classes. Here, AMSTI specialist Julie Coven (standing, left) works with Ria Evans and her physics class at Northridge High.
Each year, over 12,000 students statewide and from West Alabama come to The University of Alabama to test their skills against their peers in academic competitions and tournaments. These competitions, organized and managed by UA faculty members, are the state’s measurement of excellence for students in many programs, including many represented by departments in the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Communications, and Commerce and Business Administration. From science and technology to foreign languages to the visual and performing arts, these competitions help K-12 students aim for a level of mastery that prepares them to compete and contribute successfully in the wider world. UA faculty contribute hundreds of hours to presenting the Regional Science Olympiad, the Alabama High School Physics Contest, the High School Math Tournament, Foreign Language Day, the Ruth Larcom Alabama High School Arts Competition, Alabama Theatre Day, Choral and Band Competitions, French Clubs Convention, Spanish Clubs Convention, High School German Day, Latin Day, Forensics Tournament, the State DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) Competition, and other competitions. Healthy competition strengthens everyone involved, in academics and in life. But one of the minimum prerequisites for healthy competition is that everyone knows where the field is and has a way to get to it. The constricted perspective of chronic financial disadvantage stops some of Alabama’s children from imagining a future broader than the past. Many UA enrichment programs are targeted to help these students see the range of careers open to them as individuals, and the possibilities of entering those careers in their home communities or beyond. Combining enrichment and coaching with competition, UA engineering faculty promote middle schoolers’ achievement in mathematics by hosting, as part of a national program, a section of MATHCOUNTS. Competition is also part of SITE (Student Introduction to Engineering), UA Engineering’s fiveday summer camp for rising high school juniors and seniors that culminates in a faculty-judged design competition. A new enrichment program, the Engineering Academy in Sumter County, brings students in Sumter County and Livingston high schools an engineering-prep curriculum to ready them to suc-
The Regional Science Olympiad brings over 250 of Alabamaʼs “best and brightest” middle and high school students to UA for a day of individual and group competitions, following year-long preparation, in engineering, biology, chemistry, geological sciences, math, and physics. UA faculty frequently serve as judges for school or system science fairs, reinforcing the importance—and the fun—of working to achieve academic excellence. Since 1979, UAʼs Alabama Museum of Natural History has offered Summer Expeditions in which high school students, teachers, parents, and adults interested in archaeology, history, and natural sciences participate for a week in on-going archaeological digs. The expeditions have ranged throughout the state and throughout time as their focus has ranged from excavating dinosaur age fossils in the Black Belt to investigating the Civil War-era ironworks at Tannehill Park near Birmingham.
The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K-12 Education: The Provostʼs Report 25
UAʼs McLure Education Libraryʼs free High School Digital Resources Web Page gives students open access to quality research materials and resources. UA librarians serve K–12 teachers through a variety of direct and digital services, including the free “Ask-A-Librarian” query program. McLure head Helga Visscher (center), information services librarian Dr. Nancy DuPree, and graduate assistant Ted Gentle help students and teachers alike navigate the wealth of available information.
ceed in college math and science courses. A regional partnership between UA and the State Board of Education, the Engineering Academy introduces students to the various disciplines of engineering and provides specific instruction taught by engineering graduate students that could not otherwise be provided by relatively small and underfunded school systems. Howard Hughes Rural Science Scholars Program, a joint project of UA’s Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Community Health Sciences, introduces bright rural high school students to university study. Many of these students will be the first generation of their families to go to college; the program’s goal is the return of rural students to their hometowns as science teachers, health care providers, or scientifically trained workers, or their entry into careers in research aimed at solving problems of rural areas. Rising seniors from rural Alabama counties live on campus during summer school, taking college courses in general biology and creative writing, attending seminars on rural issues and the research that provides solutions, and interacting with biological sciences faculty, CCHS medical doctors, and current college students from rural areas. The current shortage of registered nurses in the United States, and particularly in rural areas in Alabama, is expected to worsen as the baby boomers age and require more care. As part of the Kids into Health Careers federal grant program to combat this challenge, UA’s Capstone College of Nursing (CCN) created age-appropriate materials for K-12 to build awareness and interest in the profession of nursing. CCN graduate students use the materials in visits to schools in their hometowns throughout the state, while CCN undergraduates use them at K-12 health screenings. The lesson plans and links to resources are also available on CCN’s website at no cost to teachers, nurses, and parents.
For over 50 years, UA has provided print-based Independent Study courses for high school students who want to earn academic credit outside their locally available high school experience. The program offers over 25 core and elective high school courses; over 1,200 students participate each year. Beginning in 2007 in cooperation with the State Department of Education, UA offers distance learning and teacher support and professional development through the UA ACCESS Support Center. In its first year of operation, UA provided distance classes, delivered through webbased and interactive video conferece formats, to 3,000 students in 150 high schools in its 22-county service area. Sixty-two additional high tech “21st Century Classrooms” are slated for installation in 2009, bringing the total to 95 in Central Alabama high schools.
UA business faculty and students are helping high schools increase entrepreneurship education in their curricula through training institutes and individual projects such as C&BA students working with high school journalism students on the business skills required to run a schoolbased newspaper. The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K-12 Education: The Provostʼs Report 27
UA始s Community Music School offers lessons and performance opportunities for children of all ages.
Developing the capacity for self-expression through the arts and for community-building through solid communication equips Alabama’s children with important life skills. UA programs addressing these needs begin with offerings for surprisingly young students.“Kindermusick” classes designed to foster creativity, social development, and focused listening begin with age-appropriate classes for children aged birth through 17 months (and their parents.) These sessions are offered by UA’s Community Music School, a year-round program noted for its kindermusick (through age 7), chamber music, and string classes, and also offering group lessons as well as individual lessons in 21 instruments, voice, and composition. Aspiring musicians from around West Alabama come to campus for lessons offered for modest fees at convenient after-school and evening hours. Summer music camps and band, instrument, and choir festivals bring 7,000 middle and high school students to campus each year. Teaching professional standards and providing support and community for Alabama’s youngest journalists has for over 70 years been the work of the Alabama Scholastic Press Association (ASPA), a service of UA’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. In addition to the annual convention held each spring in Tuscaloosa, ASPA offers workshops around the state each fall, serving about 600 high school journalists in five areas: newspaper, yearbook, literary magazine, broadcast, and an open track. Partnering with the Alabama Press Association, ASPA awards scholarships that empower participation by students who would otherwise not be able to attend. ASPA sponsors publication and individual competitions, maintains a lending library and a resouces web site, and provides phone consultations, site visits, and an adviser listserv and mailing lists. ASPA programs such as the Scholastic Newspaper Improvement Project (SNIP) enlist industry partners such as the Newspaper Association of America Foundation to join UA faculty members in helping middle and high school journalists and their teachers with the planning and production of school newspapers.
For over twenty years, the UA Forensics program has hosted the Hall of Fame High School Speech and Debate Tournament, bringing to campus 500 high school competitors from Alabama and surrounding states. Alabama Public Radio has partnered with the media program of Alma Bryant High School in Irvington, Alabama, to create a podcasting program, funded by a grant from the Radio Television News Directors Foundation. Students in UAʼs nationally regarded program in creative writing sponsor an online and after-school Creative Writing Club, giving high school students the opportunity to share and workshop their writings. The Club also holds a summer institute with workshops in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. The American Ballet Theatreʼs Summer Dance Intensive, held on the UA campus and taught by ABT members, guest artists, and UA faculty brings young dancers from 30+ states, including Alabama, to campus for three weeks of demanding and rewarding dance instruction.
Now in its 25th year, the Multicultural Journalism Program and its free summer workshop enable high school and first-year college students to explore careers in journalism while learning more about college expectations. The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K-12 Education: The Provostʼs Report 29
University of Alabama elementary education senior Bethany Wrenʼs second-grade teacher inspired her to become an educator. Bethanyʼs most rewarding classroom moment is “when I see that a student gets a new concept, and I can give the positive feedback that makes them glow. Sometimes a teacherʼs praise is the only appreciation a child gets. Every success makes them want to learn more.”
Preparing new educators No function of The University of Alabama is more crucial to the success of our state than the preparation of continuing generations of educators to lead the classrooms of Alabama. Many students come to the University knowing they want to become teachers; others are unaware of the deep satisfaction the profession can offer. Exposing a broad spectrum of students to the compelling possibilities of teaching careers is a priority for the University. Preparation of educators has of course always been the mission of the College of Education, and increasingly departments all across the University are offering undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to participate in outreach to K–12. UA’s growing roster of service-learning courses increasingly involves our students in mentoring and giving lessons to K–12 students, working with them both to enrich instruction and to serve as inspirational, accessible role models for success. K–12 students, particularly those at risk for academic disengagement, thrive on the extra individual attention these volunteers give. Dr. Kim Lackey, coordinator of the biological sciences component of the after-school program at the Tuscaloosa family resource center, sees that both the children being mentored and the UA students are benefitting: “These kids nearly break your ribs, they hug so hard. They really are having fun in learning. At the same time, showing our students how to combine the rewards of working with children with their love of science may inspire some of them to become science educators, which is a highly in-demand profession. It’s a win-win situation for K–12 and for our students.”
Developing the scientific and general knowledge of classroom teachers is part of their professional formation. A class taught at The University of Alabama since 1992, developed under a NASA grant and now serving as a national model for innovative science teaching, helps education majors enhance their scientific literacy through an interdisciplinary, problemsolving science course. AEM 120–Aerospace Science for Educators is a required course for all UA elementary education majors and is a popular elective for secondary ed majors. Individual hands-on activities and cooperative team projects based on quantitative and inductive reasoning are an engaging part of the lecture/lab structure of the course.
All of today’s educators are teaching in a world in which understanding international perspectives is of increasing importance. The Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) provides an oppportunity for soon-to-graduate teachers to expand their perspective. Through COST, education majors can arrange for quality student teaching placement and supervision in American-sponsored overseas schools: a unique opportunity to become sensitive to, and better informed about, international and domestic affairs. The University of Alabamaʼs Partnership with K-12 Education: The Provostʼs Report 31
The University of Alabama frequently partners with communities, schools and service agencies to aid youth in Alabama. The following list of programs is just a sampling of UA services targeting young people in Alabama; the programs listed are either documented in this publication or in the recent Carnegie Foundation “community engagement” recognition report that resulted in The University of Alabama being named one of the nationʼs premiere institutions in community outreach. A more comprehensive guide to UA K-12 and youth service partnerships is available on the Web at www. provost.ua.edu
Directory of Services Agriculture Farming, a Tuscaloosa Community and New College Partnership places students at the cooperative and brings local farmers to the classroom as.ua.edu/nc/sustainable_food Alabama Autism Conference; Arts ‘N Autism
autism.ua.edu
Alabama Consortium for Educational Renewal
blackburninstitute.ua.edu Brewer-Porch Children’s Center bpcc.ua.edu College of Community Health Sciences Sponsors numerous rural health initiatives serving Alabama children
cchs.ua.edu
acer.ua.edu
Camp Cash
Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute
jbrakefi@ches.ua.edu
cba.ua.edu/einstitute
K12summer.ua.edu Capstone Black Belt Entrepreneurship Camp
cba.ua.edu/einstitute/news Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI) Capstone Business Leadership Academy inservice.ua.edu/amsti cba.ua.edu/summer_academy
Alabama Museum of Natural History Summer Expeditions
amnh.ua.edu
Alabama Public Radio
apr.org
Alabama Scholastic Press Association
aspa.ua.edu
American Ballet Theatre Summer Dance Intensive
Center for Community-Based Partnerships
ccbp.ua.edu
Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility
cesr.ua.edu
Child Development Resources
www.ches.ua.edu/outreach/cdr/
College of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction Department of Educational Bibb County Child Care Leadership, Policy, and TechInitiative cchs.ua.edu/crm/rural_health_pro- nology Studies Department of Educagrams/cci tional Studies in Psychology, Research Methodology, and Black Belt 100 Lenses Project Counseling crossroads.ua.edu/BB100lense
as.ua.edu/theatre/BA/abtsi
254 Rose Administration Building Box 870114 Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0114 205-348-4890
Blackburn Institute
Department of Kinesiology Department of Music Education
education.ua.edu
Community Music School
music.ua.edu/cms
Community Development and Community Education work with campus and external partners to support communities including P-12 partnerships, ESL family literacy, mentoring for middle school students, after-school daycare tutorials
College of Continuing Studies ccbp.ua.edu/communitydevelopCommunity partner with numer- ment ous programs impacting Alabama ccbp.ua.edu/communityeducation children and young adults continuingstudies.ua.edu Counselor Education Laboratory students and faculty provide therapy free of charge to Communicative Disorders community members in need Public School Internship, Speech-Language counselored.ua.edu/lab Pathology as.ua.edu/comdis Creative Campus Initiative
creativecampus.ua.edu
College of Community Health Sciences Creative Writing Club Community Health and Rural bama.ua.edu/~CWC Health Services (many targeting children) Crossroads Community cchs.ua.edu Center
crossroads.ua.edu
Community Service Center
volunteer.ua.edu
Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching
teachabroad.ua.edu
The Cost of Child Abuse vs. Child Abuse Prevention: Alabama’s Experience; a study of the economic impact of child abuse
ches.ua.edu/outreach
Club DZINE: Design Zone for Innovative Engineering; partnership with Tuscaloosa Housing Authority provides after-school science and engineering design experiences
provost.ua.edu/carnegie bama.ua.edu/~uansbe/home.html
Department of Biological Sciences
www.as.ua.edu/biology
Department of Geological Sciences
www.geo.ua.edu
Discovering Alabama Award-winning TV series about the natural history and heritage of Alabama; accompanying guides for teachers and students makes learning locally relevant for students.
discoveringalabama.org
Engineers Without Borders
ewb.eng.ua.edu
English as Second Language
eli.ua.edu
Environmental Education The University of Alabama Arboretum
arboretum.ua.edu
Family Resource Center Network Provides an array of services to protect children and strengthen families; housed in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences
ches.ua.edu provost.ua.edu/carnegie
Geography Education for Teachers Provides summer enrichment training for high school teachers
inservice.ua.edu/opps/special.htm Holt Partnership: Numerous services to youth in this area provided by UA faculty, school personnel, and community leaders to lift an economically challenged community
provost.ua.edu/carnegie
Horseshoe Farms (rural school tutoring program sponsored by School of Social Work)
provost.ua.edu/carnegie
Howard Hughes Rural Science Scholars Program
as.ua.edu/biology/hhmi/RSSP/ rural_science_scholars_program
Infant Birth Weight Improvement
yneggers @ches.ua.edu
Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship National academic journal published at UA highlighting community-based partnership efforts nationally including those that serve children and families
JCES@ua.edu
Observatory Department of Physics and Astronomy
bama.ua.edu/~physics/
Parenting Assistance Phone Line (PAL)
pal.ua.edu/index2.php 1-866-962-3030
Kids into Health Careers Capstone College of Nursing
nursing.ua.edu
Michael Figures Leadership Forum
k12summer.ua.edu/values.html
MINT (Center for Materials for Information Technology)
mint.ua.edu
Parent Leadership Academy
ccbp.ua.edu/communityeducation/ index Pediatric Development Research laboratory (fetal and infant development; interventions for expectant mothers at risk)
School Bus Seatbelt Study
dturner@eng.ua.edu
School Psychology Doctoral Program (literacy research with at-risk children)
schoolpsych.ua.edu
Service Learning: Deliberately links community service to academic study helping students, faculty and staff share their expertise with the community. Over 180 courses are offered annually – with many providing greatly needed services to children and families.
volunteer.ua.edu/servicelearning. html
research.ua.edu/archive2008/baby. Student Introduction to Engihtm neering
Moundville Archaeological Park (includes support for ecotourism in the Black Belt and numerous educational programs for youth)
moundville.ua.edu
Multicultural Journalism Program ccom.ua.edu/mjw Multiple Abilities Program (MAP) service learning projects where UA students run afterschool clubs at elementary schools such as “Rock Out” Science Day and “Write On” summer camp.
education.ua.edu/teacher/map
Obesity and Nutrition lknol@ches.ua.edu Obesity and blood pressure trends in rural adolescents over a decade. Pediatric Nursing journal article covering UA interdisciplinary study.
ccbp.ua.edu
Pre-K Initiative
cesr.ua.edu/programsandactivities/ prek.html
site.eng.ua.edu Spanish Outreach Program
bama.ua.edu/~spnreach/
Psychology Clinic
cchs.ua.edu/shc/health-promotion/ mental-health/psychologyclinic Regional In-Service Center Alabama Science in Motion Technology in Motion Alabama Reading Initiative Alabama Reading First Initiative
Technical Outreach Community Help Center (TORCH) Society of Black Engineers members tutor and hold summer camps for elementary and middle school students
bama.ua.edu/~uansbe/home.html
inservice.ua.edu
The University of Alabama Superintendents’ Academy
Rural Child Health: Journal publication on effectiveness of community efforts to reduce unmet health needs among rural school children. Capstone College of Nursing
WOW Opening in fall 2009, 16bed program for female juvenile offenders in West Alabama; School of Social Work and other agencies
nursing.ua.edu RISE
riseschool.ua.edu
uasa.ua.edu
provost.ua.edu/carnegie